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Hi,
As an organizational development consultant, executive coach, and practicing therapist, I work with groups and individuals undergoing change all day long. In fact, I can't listen to tomorrow's program because I'm leading a change and transition workshop for employees at Metro during the broadcast.

What is successful change? I think it's change that is meaningful, and that can be sustained over time. With all due respect to Michael Watkins, successful change requires more than preparation and commitment. It requires recognition that change is a process that begins with the ending of the old, and a re-orientation of identity before the new can be fully embraced. Change processes that don't make allowances for grieving the loss of the way things have been and adjusting -- which takes time -- are often undermined.

All of us in this country -- whether right, center or left -- have grown accustomed to our stances in relationship to the realities of the Bush administration. And if we're really going to become the change we wish to see in the world, the change that Obama's election promised, we're going to have to change our behavior and some of our beliefs. It's going to involve discomfort, and we need to be patient with ourselves and each other along the way.

Adela Basayne
Conscious Change LLC
Portland, Oregon

posted 4 years, 6 months ago
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